


Somniorum

by ChildishSadism



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fantasy, M/M, Mystery, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-18 16:39:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14856380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChildishSadism/pseuds/ChildishSadism
Summary: We hope you enjoy your visit here in Insomnia, the home of Lucis Industries. We are proud to offer the latest in medical technology and the most advanced anti-aging serum ever created. Elixirs are the only beauty secret you're ever going to need. Please, sit back and relax, you have all the time in the world. This is the city that never sleeps. You'll love this paradise, so much, that you'll never want to leave.There is no reason to leave.Why would you ever want to leave?Join us and enjoy, you only have one life to do it. Right?





	1. Night Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Oh hi, yeah, so what's up? here's this fic and that's it. 
> 
> um, warnings? I guess my English but asides from that I think we are good....for now. 
> 
> tumblr: https://demnocts.tumblr.com/
> 
> come talk to me about Nocto.
> 
> This chapter is tagged as ignoct right now but it COULD, MAYBE turn into the bros/Noctis. I haven't decided yet, if not then it would stay as ignoct.

Ignis groaned in pain and tried to get on his feet. He was wounded, he could feel blood soaking his shirt and dripping down his right side. Even trying to lift his body was painful. He kept struggling, trying his best to at least get-up but his body was far too weak. He laid there on his stomach, his fists weakly hitting the floor underneath him. It was hard to see anything around him, the smoke was making his eyes blurry and breathing was becoming too hard.  
  
But he could see Noctis.  
  
Ignis took a deep breath and slowly began crawling towards Noctis. The younger male was struggling as well, his half-lidded eyes looking ready to close. Noctis was out of it, fighting to stay awake as he tried to move his body but he couldn’t even bring himself to lift his head.  
  
Someone walked next to Ignis and easily reached Noctis before him. He knew who it was but all he could see were his shoes. He couldn’t even bring himself to lift his head and glare at their attacker. He could only stare at the black boots that by now had reached Noctis and were lazily nudging his head.  
  
“I told you not to get involved with him, didn’t I? This could have gone so much better, Ignis.” The voice was familiar yet so cold and distant.  
  
Ignis watched in horror as the heavy combat boots stomped on Noctis hands and dragged out a loud scream from him. He shook his head and stood up with whatever energy he had left. Both of his legs were trembling and the wound on his side was still bleeding. He could see Gladio and Prompto struggling to get up but they looked hurt as well.  
  
“I won’t let you take him away,” Ignis hissed and took a step forward, his body weak. He didn’t take his eyes away from Noctis though, not even when the attacker’s hand reached down and pulled on Noctis hair to get him to stand on his knees.  
  
“I’m afraid I already have,” Long fingers dug through the dark strands, pulling on the thick hair until Noctis was hissing in pain and clawing at the hand to force it to let go. “But this isn’t your fault, is his,” He roughly pulled on Noctis’ hair again and forced him to look at Ignis.  
  
Noctis was forced to stare at Ignis as he bled and weakly moved towards him. He was forced to see how his friends were hurt and he couldn’t do anything about it. He was forced to watch as Ignis slowly fell to his knees and held the wound that was bleeding so much.  
  
“You should apologize, Noctis, for doing this to them,” The dark voice was next to his ear, digging into his brain and causing him to struggle. “Say that you are sorry, say it!”  
  
Noctis hissed in pain as his hair was pulled and nails pushed against his scalp. He closed his eyes, and slowly looked back at Ignis. Noctis whimpered, his lips trembling as he started crying and forced himself to look at Ignis' eyes.  
  
“I-I’m sorry,”  
  
No, don’t apologize Noctis. Ignis wanted to say but the words weren’t leaving his mouth, his vision was getting blurry and his body was getting cold.  
  
“I’m so s-sorry!”  
  
Noctis had nothing to apologize for. Ignis took a deep breath and looked at Noctis one more time, his mind backtracking to the first time he met him.

* * *

  
  
  
The large office was quiet and dark. The only light source being the large screen monitor that was resting on top of the glass desk. Someone was sitting there, typing away on the bright flat, blue keys that were reflecting on the glass surface. Every time a key was touched it would change to a green color and it would lightly vibrate to let the user know that it was working properly.  
  
Ignis sat on his wide leather chair as he typed away, his eyes never leaving the screen in front of him. The bright colors were reflecting against his glasses but by now he was so used to it that he didn’t even notice the change in hue. He was far too preoccupied trying to reply to all the emails that he had left before heading home.  
  
It was the beginning of spring, meaning that people took the chance to organize large events to showcase their new lines, whatever it was fashion lines, cars, and even new medicine they all were in desperate need for last-minute additions, and like always they would forget about a security team or security altogether. It was how it always ended up with Ignis trying his best to accommodate every event with the proper staff that was required. It also meant keeping a tight and organized set up for his whole team, along with knowing who to send to what events to make sure they kept focused.  
  
Unfortunately, Ignis set up and need to keep an eye on everything was the reason why he was still at work at eleven at night when he should have gone home since five in the afternoon. He could have his assistant deal with this, she was a very capable woman with an eye for perfection like Ignis, but part of him wouldn’t let him. What if for whatever reason she made a mistake? It was illogical for him to think like this, not once since Luna was hired had she made a big mistake like that. She sometimes fought with their printers and had issues declining dates but an error like that? Unheard of.  
  
Ignis could deal with late nights and could deal with the workload. It wasn’t like he hadn’t done it before. There was a time when his company was nothing but him and his best friend answering phone calls in their apartment and writing down everything on a notebook or their slow tablet. They would overwork themselves to cover up every single event and ask help from friends to try to cover shifts they couldn’t do themselves. It was amusing to remember how everything started and the position they held now. It was probably the reason why Ignis still couldn’t let go and enjoy the fruits of his labor.  
  
Ignis chuckled quietly and finished sending his last email before taking off his glasses and closing his eyes for a few seconds. Time moved too fast sometimes, it was crazy to think how just a few years ago they had little to nothing and now they led one of the most successful security companies in the whole city. No wonder it was hard for him to just stop and relax. Their success just sort of happened from one year to the next and even though it had been years since they got lucky, Ignis still wasn’t able to just let go of his tight grip on everything. It could be that maybe Luna was right, he liked to micro-manage too much, maybe he needed to work on that.  
  
Gladio, his best friend, didn’t seem to have any issues enjoying their success though. He was still serious when it came to business but he shared a lot of his responsibilities with the staff he hired, which was how things should be. If only Ignis could do the same, then his life would be probably a lot more interesting. Maybe he could ask Gladio if he wanted to go on vacation. He needed to rewire himself and see a different perspective. He needed to learn to let go and find something new to occupy his mind.  
  
Ignis slipped his glasses back on and stood up. It was finally time to go home now that everything was set for their spring events. He was hungry and tired but didn’t feel like cooking at the moment. He was probably going to have to pick something to eat on his way back home, hopefully not something fast and greasy. He could always call and then just pick it up, that was a good idea.  
  
Ignis left his office and made sure he had everything in his leather, messenger bag before getting in the elevator. If Gladio was here he would probably ask him why he still had this old bag when his suit was probably more expensive than anything he could carry in it. It just held sentimental value, it was the last present his uncle gave him before he entered college and it lasted him through all his studying years and even through the years they struggled with their business. It just felt wrong not to have it.  
  
Ignis stepped out of the elevator and sighed quietly. The night guard was looking through the monitors as he walked by but quickly waved at him as soon as he noticed him. Ignis waved back with a small smile.  
  
“Long night Ignis?” Talcott smiled and leaned over his desk.  
  
“Yes, but thankfully I’m all done. Who knows, maybe I’ll come in later than usual tomorrow,” Ignis replied but didn’t stop walking.  
  
“As if! I’m sure I’m still going to be here by the time you’re back!” Talcott chuckled. “Have a good night, Ignis.”  
  
“Likewise, don’t fall asleep,” Ignis teased and smiled when Talcott groaned behind him.  
  
“That was only one time! It’s never going to happen again!” Talcott sighed loudly and half pouted as he leaned his head against his hand. You make one mistake once and people never forget!  
  
Ignis couldn’t help the small laugh that left his lips. It was true that Talcott only made that mistake once and it had been so late in his shift it hadn’t matter, but teasing him about it just never got old.  
  
The good thing about living in Insomnia was the fact that it for sure lived up to its name. A lot of stores and restaurants were still open and a small crowd of people was still walking through the streets. The nightlife kept going even if it was the middle of the week and people had to work the next day. Ignis could only guess that it was either young adults that were trying to enjoy life as much as they could or older people that were retired and didn’t have to worry about work anymore. Either way, they kept the city going and it was the reason why Ignis could walk into his favorite restaurant when it was almost twelve at night.  
  
“Hello! Welcome to Caldeum, would it be a table for one?” The hostess smiled at Ignis and got a menu ready for him.  
  
“I called in an order not too long ago under the name Ignis,” Ignis replied and pulled the sleeve of his suit to show the silver bracelet he was wearing. He gently tapped it on the screen in front of the hostess and his order popped up along with how he already paid for it.  
  
“Oh! I’m sure your order should be ready by now, give me a minute to go get it.”  
  
The hostess left and Ignis took a seat in the waiting room. He leaned back and idly looked around before his eyes ended up staring at the flat screen on the wall across from him. The news was on and they were talking about a new zoo that just opened and all the different animals they had that supposedly went extinct, but now thanks to Lucis Industries were back. It was thanks to them that now children of all ages and adults could enjoy the animals that humanity once hunted down to extinction.  
  
The newscast smiled at the camera and then they cut to commercials. The word Elixir appeared on the screen before it transitioned to a beautiful woman with long dark hair and green eyes, she was laying down on a large bed while holding a glass flask to her lips. She looked luxurious and beautiful, her skin flawless and her red lips full and enticing. She stood up from her bed and suddenly she was stepping out of an expensive car, wearing a tight fitting dress that showed her perfect body. She was laughing and smiling, enjoying an evening with another woman before the waiter came by with their check. She tapped her silver bracelet against the check and paid but her information also showed. The age sixty-three popped up as the transaction went through and the waiter was left shocked while the woman smiled playfully.  
  
“Take it before it’s too late,” A sensual voice added at the end of the commercial and then the word Lucis appeared last.  
  
“I have your order ready, sir!” The hostess was back and she smiled at Ignis while holding his food in a paper bag with handles for him.  
  
“Thank you, have a good night,” Ignis took his food and left the restaurant, but his mind was still thinking about the commercial.  
  
Ignis hadn’t thought about it before but he was near the age when most people would start taking elixirs. People usually waited until they’ll reach their late twenties or early thirties to take it. Some people, of course, did it earlier if they felt like it but at this point, everyone that could wouldn't hesitate to take them. Elixirs pretty much kept your body from aging after you started taking them, your physical form stayed the exact same and you wouldn’t age another day. Of course, this only kept your exterior from aging, while your insides were unfortunately not affected by it. Meaning that your organs would still age as normal and would eventually fail.  
  
Ignis was turning thirty this year, it was time for him to consider taking elixirs. He could always stop taking them if he wanted to age a little bit longer anyway. He needed to ask Gladio for more information about this kind of stuff. Gladio was the one that had been taking Lucis products since Ignis could remember. It wasn’t like Ignis didn’t do it himself but Gladio had been participating in competitive sports since a very young age, and taking the Lucis' potions or elixirs was normal for him.  
  
Ignis got lost in thoughts and kept walking, his feet taking him where he needed to go while he kept thinking. He didn’t live far from his office, and so he always walked home and would try to walk to work every morning to keep his body in shape. A few blocks were nothing compared to the training he put himself through during high school and college.  
  
Ignis walked through different streets and alleyways, his stomach begging him to take shortcuts. The idea of elixirs still fresh in his head as he felt his stomach twisting in hunger. He needed to stop skipping meals, or else taking elixirs wouldn’t mean anything if he didn’t take proper care of the rest of his body.  
  
“A-ah!”  
  
A loud whimper shook Ignis out of his thoughts and he quickly blinked before looking around. He was able to catch a quick glimpse of something moving in the alleyway next to him, but it was too dark for him to see what it was. He pulled on the sleeve of his shirt and his bracelet came into view before he lightly tapped it on the side and a flashlight came on.  
  
Ignis flashed the light in the alleyway to see better and blinked a couple of times at the figure that was curling up against the wall behind them. They were using their arms to hide their head as if that was going to keep them from being spotted. Whoever they were looked dirty and their extremely long hair was a mess. They were shaking and were trying their best to shield themselves from the light.  
  
Ignis frowned, and his brows furrowed in confusion. Ignis had never seen anyone looking like this. He kept examining them, staring at their dirty feet and the mud that was clinging to their legs. That’s when he noticed the faded footprint on their leg. Ignis accidentally stepped on them, that was the whimper he heard earlier. Even so, Ignis couldn’t understand how the hell he was able to do that. Was he so tired he didn’t see the person at all?  
  
The person was still shaking, their bodies curled into a tight ball as they tried to squirm away from Ignis. Ignis sighed loudly and composed himself as he walked towards the curled up figure. He was trying to figure out an explanation as to why someone would be acting this way or even look like this. The weirdest thing was that they didn’t have a bracelet around their wrist either. He couldn’t recall ever seeing someone without one. The only time people took them off was to replace them with the latest model as only government officials could get them off. It was illegal to go outside without one, and in the extremely rare case that it broke, you had to have a government official come to your home and fix the issue. The only way to take it off was to cut off your hand and most people truly didn’t want to do that.  
  
Ignis only logical response was to try calling the police. He tapped his bracelet again and a menu popped up. It was then that the person moved again, this time he crawled over to Ignis, his long hair sticking out in all directions while his bangs covered his eyes. He gripped Ignis pants and shook his head desperately.  
  
“H-hel’...p-plea’e. N-no, p-plea’e,” The voice cracked and was trembling. The words hardly coming out and making sense but Ignis was able to get what they were saying. It sounded like they had never spoken these words before as if they were just learning how to speak.  
  
It was the first time Ignis was able to really look at them. The dark, raven hair was for sure too long, it almost reached the stranger’s knees and the bangs had been chopped up in different angles but were still too long and were covering their eyes. Ignis assumed they were male since now he could see a flat chest. The clothes he was wearing was nothing but a hospital robe but Ignis couldn’t recognize the colors or the logo. He knew every single clinic and hospital in the city due to his job but not this one. He couldn’t remember any hospital having black and gray robes for their patients.  
  
Ignis glanced over at the screen in front of him and then sighed. He lowered his arm and the screen disappeared. He shouldn’t be doing this. He should just walk away and call the police, and he was about to do just that when the boy gripped his suit jacket and looked up at him once again.  
  
The thick bangs parted just enough for Ignis to see one pleading eye looking at him. The gray and blue eye was looking at him with tears and the colors coming from the street made it look like stars were reflecting back.  
  
“Plea’e…” The stranger said again, his lips trembling as tears rolled down his cheeks.  
  
Ignis was going to regret this.  
  
It must have been destiny or just luck that his flat was only one block away from where he found the boy. He was holding the boy’s wrist, guiding him as he took long steps to rush them inside his building. He got in by tapping his bracelet against the door and was glad that no one was in the lobby. He was truly beginning to think that this was too much luck for something so risky, but he didn’t question it much.  
  
Ignis got in the elevator and clicked the button for his floor. The boy was just standing next to him, not saying anything or moving at all. In fact, he could hardly hear his breathing. If it wasn’t because Ignis was holding his wrist, he probably wouldn't have been able to feel the boy standing next to him. It was creepy and very unsettling.  
  
What the hell was he doing?  
  
The elevator came to a stop and Ignis quickly moved to his flat's door. The door opened the moment he touched the handle and he didn’t waste any time stepping inside the pulling the boy along with him. He closed the door behind him and the reassuring sound of the lock sealing the door was the only thing that was able to let him relax.  
  
Ignis was home. He was home now. He hadn’t realized how fast his heart was beating until now. He leaned back against the wall behind him, trying to compose himself and control his nerves. The boy wasn’t moving again, he was just looking at Ignis, tilting his head as he watched him move.  
  
Ignis looked him over and then stared at the mud clinging to the hospital robe that was threatening to fall on his clean floor and carpet.  
  
“Come on, you need a bath,” Ignis guided the boy to the guest’s bathroom and let him in first but followed right after. “The towels are in this cabinet. I’ll bring you some of my clothes to wear in the meantime. I’ll leave them outside the door, once you are done bathing please get them and change.” Without another word, Ignis left the bathroom and closed the door behind him.  
  
Ignis needed to clear his head, more importantly, he needed to figure out what to do now. He ended up sitting down on his kitchen table before digging through the bag that had his food. In all honesty, he wasn’t hungry anymore, but he could feel a headache threatening to form in the back of his eyes. He needed to get some food in him before he ended up with a migraine and right now he didn’t have any potions to get rid of them. He took a few bites from his pasta dish and sighed contently at the flavor.  
  
It was as if for now he could pretend like nothing happened. He could pretend like he went home straight from his office after picking up some food and didn’t at all ended up bringing a stranger into his home. If only he could, but the noises coming from the bathroom were telling him otherwise.  
  
Ignis rubbed his face with both of his hands and then tapped on his bracelet to make the menu pop up. He quickly typed a message to Gladio and went back to eating, knowing fully well Gladio was probably asleep by now and he wasn’t going to answer until tomorrow morning. He needed someone to think this over with him, maybe even a third person at this point but he wasn’t sure who to call now. He trusted Gladio the most, he trusted him with his life and was his business partner, there was no one else in his mind to call besides him.  
  
Ignis finished eating half of his meal and then tilted his head back, enjoying the quietness of his apartment. He could hear some noises from the street but they were muffled enough to become white noises that were helping him ground himself again. It was too quiet though, far too quiet, in fact, Ignis couldn’t remember hearing the water from the shower.  
  
Something wasn’t right.  
  
Ignis got up and walked over to the bathroom before knocking a couple of times. He didn’t get a reply at all and so he opened the door just to stare at the boy that was sitting in the middle of the bathroom with his legs close to his chest. He hadn’t moved an inch, worse of all he hadn’t even taken a bath at all.  
  
Ignis sighed loudly and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows before going to turn on the shower head. He picked a comfortable temperature and then looked back at the boy. By now the boy was facing him, watching what Ignis was doing with obvious curiosity.  
  
“You need to take a bath, you are covered on mud,” Ignis pointed towards the water and waited for the boy to do something, but he wasn’t moving at all. “You need to take off your clothes for this,”  
  
Whatever Ignis said seemed to be something the boy knew what it meant because he was standing up and pulling on his medical robe until it was over his head and he was naked. Ignis quickly looked up, staring at the boys head and nothing else before motioning for him to come closer. After a minute or two, the boy was walking towards Ignis but stopped when he was next to him.  
  
“Go on, get under the water,” Ignis encouraged him and sighed in relief when the boy stepped inside the shower and let the water hit him. The mess of hair was now soaked and looked longer but the boy wasn’t bothered by it at all. Now that the water was splashing against his face, the bangs were parting, exposing his face.  
  
The boy didn’t look that young after all. He looked in his late teens, his hair covering most of his face just made him look younger, especially when he was usually curling up instead of standing up straight like he was right now.  
  
The teen blinked rapidly and eventually ended up closing his eyes to keep the water from getting in his eyes. He sighed quietly, looking like he was enjoying the warm water on his body. Ignis took the chance to reach over for the soap. He grabbed the teen’s hands and started to show him how to scrub his body, not at all ignoring how the water was coming out as a light brown because of how dirty he was. That was really gross.  
  
Ignis shuddered at the idea of being this dirty and kept showing the teen how to clean himself before letting go. “Go on, keep going,” He was glad he was understood because he truly didn’t want to have to keep scrubbing the teen completely. Instead, he moved to wash the long and tangled hair. This was going to take a lot of shampoo.  
  
Ignis was supposed to get off of work and relax in his home before going back to work tomorrow morning, but instead, he was dealing with this. Truly he was the only one to blame but why did he have to do it. He shook his head and continued to wash the long black hair. The water that was going down the drain was looking dirtier and dirtier the more he scrubbed the long hair until it finally became clear after the third rinse.  
  
Ignis was so exhausted as he lazily applied the conditioner. He just couldn’t bring himself to care anymore. He was half asleep and his muscles were asking him to lay down and relax. He let the teen finish cleaning up and then helped him dry up before handing him one of his shirts and a pair of his underwear. The button-up shirt was too big and the underwear was for sure baggy but it would have to do for now.  
  
The teen followed Ignis outside the bathroom, his hair now dry and looking soft, although it was still kind of messy because of how long it was. Why would anyone keep hair this long, to begin with? It was just so impractical. Ignis shook his head and flopped down on his couch without bothering to change clothes.  
  
“I’m going to sleep. I’m a light sleeper too if you try anything I will break your arms and legs,” It wasn’t an empty threat either, Ignis knew how to defend himself very well. He got no reply and after a few minutes, he was deep asleep.

* * *

  
  
Ignis woke up the next day to someone knocking on his front door before opening it. He sighed quietly and sat up before groaning when his back whined in response. He shouldn’t have slept on the couch. He looked up and fixed his glasses just in time to see Gladio stepping through the hallway with a grin on his face.  
  
“Well, let me take a picture at least. The great Ignis overslept and didn’t show up to work. It must be the apocalypse,” Gladio laughed loudly and shook his head before sitting on the couch opposite from Ignis.  
  
“I didn’t give you access to my flat just for you to come and mock me,” Ignis sighed and tried to fix his shirt and hair but he was still too groggy to do it properly.  
  
“Hey, you are the one that hit me up since last night. So, what’s the big emergency?” Gladio asked and rubbed the back of his neck. He gave Ignis a curious look.  
  
Ignis straighten up right away, remembering what happened last night. He completely forgot about the teen that he picked up last night. He quickly got up and looked through the living room, ignoring how Gladio was looking at him in confusion. It looked like he wanted to say something but was waiting for Ignis to calm down.  
  
Where the hell was he?  
  
Ignis was growing worried, he couldn’t see the damned kid anywhere. He stepped out of the living room and into the kitchen before sighing loudly in relief. That only lasted two seconds though before he panicked again.  
  
The teenager was sitting on the floor eating the ice-cream with his hands and keeping the door fridge open. That wasn’t what scared Ignis though, what was freaking him out was the pieces of raw meat that were on the floor half eaten. How the hell was this kid eating raw meat?  
  
“You can’t eat that!” Ignis rushed to pick up the pieces of meat and quickly disposed of them before closing the fridge door. The teen was just watching him, not saying anything as he sunk his fingers back into the ice-cream bucket and brought it up to his mouth.  
  
“Um...what’s going on here?” Gladio interrupted the staring contest and looked in between the two.  
  
“This is what I called you for,” Ignis sighed and walked over to the kitchen countertop before flipping a switch. A round vacuum came out from within one of the cabinets and quickly started to clean the mess on the floor. Ignis, on the other hand, was grabbing some tissues and a wet rag to clean the teen’s face and hands. He was a sticky mess right now.  
  
“I’m not...I’m not getting it,” Gladio watched what Ignis was doing, just wondering why the hell was Ignis cleaning up a teenager that obviously should be able to clean up after himself. Hell, he shouldn’t even be making a mess like this in the first place.  
  
“It’s not a very long story actually,” Ignis said with a chuckle and told Gladio what happened last night. It wasn’t normal for this kind of stuff to happen in Insomnia. The crime rate was zero to none, and they didn’t have any sort of issues with young teenagers, especially not with one that acted the way this one did. Their city was too organized and well executed to just see someone wondering on the streets looking lost and scared.  
  
“He doesn’t have an ID,” Ignis showed Gladio the teen’s wrists which had no bracelets at all.  
  
Gladio was taken back by that, his eyes widening as he took a seat on the floor next to the teenager. “No kidding, I have never seen anyone without their tag. Hell, you can’t even get into any city nowadays without one.”  
  
“Exactly, I thought he was maybe a tourist that got lost or something but even they have tags. It’s pretty much universal to have one,” Ignis took a seat on the floor as well and handed the teen a spoon so he would stop eating with his hands, although he didn’t really look like he knew what it was.  
  
“This is kinda out of our comfort zone, Iggy,” Gladio lightly scratched his face and watched as the teen tried to reach inside the ice-cream bucket again just to have Ignis stop him and show him how to eat with the spoon. It was honestly, very funny for Gladio to watch this.  
  
“I can email Prompto and ask him to look over cases like these online. You know if some shit happened it’s probably in the net and he’ll find it for us,” Gladio tapped his bracelet and the screen popped up.  
  
“That sounds like a good start,” Ignis nodded and pushed a spoonful of ice-cream against the teen's lips, waiting for him to take it before going for a second spoonful.  
  
“Yeah, but what if he doesn’t find anything?” Gladio asked and finished sending the email. He was sure Prompto was going to reply right away. He was already at work.  
  
“I don’t know,” Ignis glanced over at the teen, seeing the same stunning eyes from last night looking at him through dark bangs. He honestly had no answer for Gladio.

 

 

 

...

 

...


	2. Rabbit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hi again. So yeah, here's the second chapter and stuff. Yay!
> 
> tumblr: https://demnocts.tumblr.com/
> 
> Warning: My ass English as always and nothing else here. So far...

The time read five o’clock and Ignis was already done putting all of his stuff in his bag. He didn’t hesitate at all when he closed the programs on his monitor and then turned off the light in his office. He walked out of his office and smiled at Luna as he moved over to her desk. Ignis flicked his wrist and a menu popped up from his bracelet. He selected a couple of files and then looked over at Luna.  
  
“I finished most of the scheduling and the set up for the events coming up. Would you finish the rest for me?” Ignis asked and waited for Luna to look over the files.  
  
Luna smiled from ear to ear and gave a quick nod. “Yes, sir! That’s what I’m here for,” She laughed quietly and moved the files from her bracelet to her monitor and then turned back to Ignis. “Heading home in time again?”  
  
It was pretty obvious that something new was going on with Ignis. For the past week, he was leaving the office in time and avoided staying longer than necessary. It was a massive change from his usual self. He was depending more on his staff and now Luna actually had something to keep her busy instead of going through boring memos and declining emails.  
  
“Yes, I think some changes were needed,” Ignis chuckled but didn’t miss the amused look Luna was giving him.  
  
“Big changes too, I’m glad you are taking the time to enjoy yourself. You deserve it, Ignis,” Luna replied with a sincere smile.  
  
“Thank you, and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you require any help,” Ignis said and watched as Luna turned her chair towards her monitor and tapped her desk to display her keyboard on the smooth surface.  
  
“Don’t worry, I got this!” Luna gave one determined nod, her attention now on her work.  
  
Ignis chuckled quietly and walked towards the elevator. The majority of the staff was still busy but some of them were getting ready to go home, and that included Gladio. The big guy was walking out of his office just in time to catch the elevator with Ignis. He grinned at his friend and gently bumped shoulders with him before stepping inside the elevator.  
  
“Going home early to see how your new cat is doing?” Gladio asked and pushed the button for the lobby.  
  
Ignis sighed quietly, knowing full well what his friend was talking about. “Yes, well, I can’t leave him alone for too long. He doesn’t know how everything operates. He’s learning oddly quickly though.”  
  
“Oh?” Gladio raised one of his brows, looking over at Ignis curiously.  
  
“It has hardly been a week, but he’s learning how to speak already. Mind you, it is in broken sentences and sometimes he only knows some of the words but he picked them up just by watching TV.” Ignis stepped out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened and he waved at Talcott before continuing his conversation with Gladio. “I didn’t have to explain anything to him. I have taken upon myself to teach him some things but I’m sure even without me, he would have learned about them pretty quick.”  
  
“Uh, so the kid ain’t stupid, that’s what you are trying to tell me?” Gladio laughed at the glare that Ignis gave him.  
  
“Could you take this more seriously? This is really odd, Gladio. It’s just...we never had to deal with something like this. I haven’t heard of anything like this before,” Ignis sighed and then quickly looked up when he remembered how Prompto was supposed to be investigating this information for them. He completely forgot. “Has Prompto found anything?”  
  
“Oh! Yeah, he has some theories of what’s up with the kid, but I think he’s onto us,” Gladio laughed nervously and scratched his beard.  
  
“Define, onto us,” Ignis asked coldly.  
  
“I might have, maybe, just maybe, tried to push the research by being very specific about what he needed to look for,” Gladio shrugged and gave Ignis an apologetical look. It wasn’t as if he did it on purpose or without knowing what could happen, but Prompto was having a hard time finding what they were looking for, so he helped him out by narrowing his field of research.  
  
“Well, he’s a smart man. He would have figured it out on his own eventually. I trust him not to say anything but how did you manage to appease his curiosity?” Ignis asked. Prompto was a very curious guy, after all, it was just part of what made him so good at his job and also what kept him updated with the latest tech. He was like a sponge, anything you gave him he would absorb and love every second of it.  
  
“Weeeell,” Gladio looked away from Ignis this time and laughed nervously. “I told him he could meet your new cat,”  
  
“What?” Ignis half yelled and quickly regret it when people turned to look at them. He walked faster, his eyes narrowing. “And when exactly were you intending to tell me this?”  
  
“Honestly, I was going to just send you a message and avoid your rage but I figured I might spill everything now,” Gladio shrugged, not understanding what the big deal was. “I told him I’ll ask you about the time and date.”  
  
Ignis took off his glasses to gently rub his temples. He understood why Gladio was so easy going about the whole situation. If push came to shove they could always just call the police and they could take care of everything. In reality, Ignis was making this more complicated than what it had to be. They didn’t have to solve this themselves, the police were more than capable to do this. Ignis just couldn’t bring himself to call them. He had a bad feeling about all of this, and that feeling was only growing the more time he spent with the boy he found.  
  
Ignis felt a bit guilty for keeping things from Gladio, but what he said earlier about the boy learning things quickly wasn’t a lie, in fact, he tried to make it sound like it was unimportant. In reality, Ignis was still trying to make sense of the things he was witnessing.  
  
The teen wasn’t learning just fast, he was learning at an incredible speed. After one day of just leaving him at home with the TV on, he came to speak sentences with meaning.  It was something most people would brush off and think nothing of it, but when a language was being learned you could imitate the sounds and the speech, but that didn’t mean you knew exactly what you were talking about.  
  
Children learned the words before they would learn the meaning. It was easier to copy the speech than learning the meaning behind them. It was why they were taught to relate words with objects or people, and eventually, when they had enough of a vocabulary they were taught sentences and more words that had deeper meanings but not really a solidify shape.  
  
Ignis tried to make logic of it by thinking about how the boy was not a child, but when Ignis found him he didn’t seem to understand anything he was saying. It was clear as day that the boy didn’t know how to speak and the only words he knew were the words he told Ignis that night in the alleyway. There was the chance that maybe he was exposed to language before but never really learned it, just knew what some things meant. It made sense since he seemed to know how to follow some basic orders, like when Ignis asked him to take off his clothes so he could bathe.  
  
“I just...I don’t have a good feeling about this Gladio,” Ignis sighed and looked up at his friends. He was worried and was starting to become paranoid. Something just wasn’t right.  
  
“Hey, calm down, everything’s going to be alright. We could always just get him to people that can help him besides us,” Gladio was, of course, talking about the police.  
  
“I can’t do that, I have a feeling that it wouldn’t end well at all,” Ignis said and put on his glasses again.  
  
“I get what you mean, this whole thing just feels off, but I think we’re just making a big deal out of it. It isn’t like we are back in time when people would just randomly get lost or killed, that doesn’t happen anymore, Iggy. We are in Insomnia, I’m positive that everything is going to turn alright,” Gladio patted Ignis’ shoulder and gave him a confident smile.  
  
“You’re right, I think I’m just overworking myself thinking about it,” Ignis said, even if he wasn’t fully convinced. Logic and evidence pretty much confirmed that what Gladio was saying was the truth, but still, Ignis just couldn’t let it sink in.  
  
“Aren’t you always? If it isn't work, it’s new business like these,” Gladio chuckled and shrugged.  
  
“Yeah, well, since you already told Prompto about what’s going on. I guess we can arrange something today. I want to hear what he has to say about this situation,” Ignis was truly hoping Prompto’s information would ease his mind as well.  
  
“Alright! Sounds good,” Gladio tapped his bracelet and quickly typed a message to Prompto just as they arrived at Ignis’ building. He hadn’t seen the kid since the first time he met him, so he was curious to see him and also confirm what Ignis was saying. It wasn’t like this was the first time he ended up in Ignis house after work, and he knew that his friend didn’t mind at all.  
  
The two got in the elevator just as Gladio was getting a reply from Prompto. It was no surprise at all to have the other reply so quickly. Prompto lived glued to his bracelet or the OS that was linked to his monitors. It was as if he couldn’t go a day without it.  
  
“Prompto said he can meet us here as soon as you tell him the address,” Gladio chuckled and looked over at Ignis.  
  
“Very well, just send him the address and I’ll give him a temporary pass to get in.” Ignis walked out of the elevator with Gladio following behind while replying to Prompto.  
  
Ignis waited for his door to unlock itself before twisting the knob and stepping inside. The TV noises could be heard right away and it wasn’t long before quiet footsteps joined in. A pair of grey eyes peeked at them behind a wall and once they recognized who it was the owner stepped into the hallway and waved.  
  
The teen was still wearing Ignis’ clothes, except this time it was a plain black T-shirt and basketball shorts that were too big for him. The long black hair was now tied in a high ponytail and the long bangs were kept out of his face by a hairclip. He stood there and only moved again when Ignis and Gladio stepped into the living room and took a seat. He followed after and sat on the carpet, his eyes glued to the TV again.  
  
“How’s it going kiddo?” Gladio grinned and ruffled the teen’s hair, but got no real reaction out of it except the teen turning to look at him.  
  
“Good, it’s good,” He answered quietly and turned his attention back to the TV.  
  
Gladio blinked in surprise and looked over at Ignis, not missing the ‘I told you so’ look he was getting. “You weren't kidding, uh?”  
  
“Why would I joke about this?” Ignis shook his head and reached into his messenger bag to get out a see-through rectangle with a black border around it. He gently touched it and a screen lighted up.  
  
“Come here,” Ignis motioned for the teen to come over. He waited until the other was sitting next to him before he handed him the tablet. “You can watch the same stuff in here, and you can also search different things. There are books already loaded in there for you to look through.”  
  
The teen’s eyes seem to sparkle at the present and he quickly nodded at Ignis before taking the tabled and clicking on the different menus. He was in awed as different pictures popped up and then a voice started reading the words linked to the pictures. He moved back to his usual spot, except this time his eyes were on the tablet and not the TV.  
  
“I haven’t seen one of those, what are they?” Gladio tilted his head and glanced at Ignis.  
  
“It used to mines. My uncle gave it to me when I was roughly five years old. It’s for children,” Ignis ended up visiting his uncle the day prior and found it in his old room. He completely forgot he had it. It wasn’t commonly sold in stores. Ignis couldn’t even remember the last time he saw one being sold in a regular store.  
  
“Ignis,” The teen’s voice caught Ignis’ attention again. “Hungry.”  
  
Gladio laughed at loud and dropped one of his hands on top of the teen’s head. “He already got you whipped?”  
  
“Hardly what I would call it,” Ignis sighed loudly and removed his glasses, “Are you hungry too?”  
  
“Always, especially when you are cooking,” Gladio ended up sitting on the floor next to the teen and looking at what he was doing on the tablet.  
  
Ignis let the two be and instead went over to the kitchen to try to get something done quickly. Prompto was going to be coming over soon so time was limited. He figured a quick pasta dish with a meat sauce would have to do for now. If they got hungry later on he could cook something else or order take out.  
  
With a plan in mind and a recipe already in the works, Ignis got out whatever ingredients he needed. He hadn’t been cooking for quite a while now, it was hard to try to do it whenever he was leaving work so late, but now he found himself cooking every day after work again. He could always pick up something on the way to work but he ended up rushing home every afternoon. He was worried that something could happen to his new guest, especially when he didn’t seem to understand how everything worked around him.  
  
Ignis was in the process of chopping up some onions when a big, fluffy cat jumped on top of the kitchen countertop. The white cat was a ball of pretty white fur, with large blue eyes and a very pink nose. It purred loudly as it curled up on the countertop. Ignis quickly wiped his hands clean with a towel before running one of his hands over the soft cat.  
  
“Hey girl, have you been babysitting him?” Ignis chuckled and motioned it towards the teen. The cat looked up and purred louder before stretching against Ignis’ hand. “I’ll get your food ready soon, be patient Aranea.” Ignis stopped petting his cat and washed his hands before going back to cooking.  
  
“Iggy, Noctis is asking if you’re putting carrots in your dish?” Gladio asked loudly from the living room.  
  
“Who?” Ignis frowned and turned around to face the living room. Gladio was looking at him with a confused look before he pointed at the kid.  
  
“Noctis, he wants to know if you're putting carrots in the dish,” Gladio asked again, this time looking a bit more confused.  
  
Ignis looked in between the teen and Gladio before everything clicked. Noctis, that was his name? Ignis had been asking him if he knew his name since he first picked him up. He asked him again yesterday and Noctis kept saying that he didn’t know.  
  
“Noctis…” Ignis tested the name in his lips and smiled when Noctis looked up to meet his eyes. He was tilting his head at Ignis, with his tablet still firmly in his hands. Ignis shook his head and turned around again, but the smile was still on his lips. “Tell Noctis, he’ll have to wait and taste it.”  
  
“You heard him, kiddo,” Gladio said and changed the channel of the TV to pick something to watch while Noctis’ attention was on his tablet.  
  
Noctis half pouted and then ended up curling up against the couch, his fingers clicking on the different icons on the tablet. He picked another story, but this one didn’t have a lot of pictures at all, it was mostly text. He kept listening to the soothing voice coming from the tablet, his eyes trying to follow along even if he didn’t know the words, at least not yet. But the sounds and the letters were starting to become familiar the more he heard them. Everything was blending in and it felt as if his thoughts were catching up with whatever he was hearing.  
  
Everything was starting to make sense.  
  
Gladio and Ignis were distracted, and so they missed the way Noctis’ eyes switched from a light gray color to a dark blue, his eyes following along with the sentences. A knock on the door snapped him out of it and he quickly looked up before glancing over at Gladio and Ignis. He had only ever interacted with the two of them in here, so he wasn’t sure who could it be.  
  
“I gave him a temporary pass,” Ignis sighed loudly and finished serving Noctis food before putting it on the table. He tilted his head towards the food and looked over at Noctis, waiting for him to get up and walk over to the table before getting the door.  
  
Ignis opened the door to greet a smiling Prompto. The sunny blonde was grinning from ear to ear and was already trying to peek inside Ignis’ apartment.  
  
“How’s it going boss!” Prompto greeted and smiled again when Ignis let him in.  
  
“I gave you a pass,” Ignis sighed and closed the door behind Prompto.  
  
“Yeah, but it’s rude to just walk in without letting people know, you know?” Prompto said and dropped his backpack on the floor before following Ignis inside.  
  
“If by rude you mean normal when you have a guest’s pass, I guess so,” Ignis rolled his eyes and ended up sitting next to Noctis.  
  
Noctis was twisting the pasta with his fork and eating it slowly as if he was trying to see if he could catch the taste of something he didn’t like, but so far he was enjoying it. Ignis found out pretty quickly how much of a picky eater he was, which was funny coming from someone that used to eat his food with his hands and had no knowledge of what a spoon and a fork were.  
  
“So, what do you have for us Prompto?” Gladio walked around the kitchen to get himself a plate of food before joining them in the dining room table.  
  
“Well first of all, hi and second of all, holy crap his hair is long!” Prompto raised one of his brows and looked over at Noctis. He was beyond excited to meet him, especially after noticing how Noctis didn't have a tag at all. At first, he doubted what Gladio told him, but now that he was seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn't hide how excited he was.  
  
Noctis looked up and waved before turning his attention back to his food. He was looking at his tablet as he ate, his free hand tapping on the pictures of his new book. He liked the animals on the pictures and the girl with the blue dress was pretty. She was chasing a cute, white rabbit and kept running into any sort of nonsenses as she tried to find him.  
  
“It sure is, that is him, in the flesh,” Gladio said and took a spoon full of his pasta.  
  
“I mean, I had a guess but I didn’t think you guys actually, you know, had something like this going on,” Prompto took a seat and tapped his bracelet before tapping the table. The table lighted up and multiple files showed up with different pictures and headlines.  
  
“I found him around a week ago. He has no memories of where he was, or who he is. Until now he didn’t even know his own name,” Ignis said and ignored the surprised look Gladio was giving him.  
  
“And he doesn’t have a tag either,” Prompto said and started to organize the different articles that were showing on the table. He didn’t miss the way that Noctis was peeking at the articles while trying to keep up with his book as well.  
  
“Nope, I’ve been keeping an eye on missing people cases as well,” Gladio added. “But there is nothing, the people that get lost are usually older people that end up in a hospital for a couple of days and the nurses forget to inform their families. The cases get solved quickly because of the tags.”  
  
“Yeah, well, I found some cases with people that had no tags,” Prompto tapped the table twice and two articles came up with pictures of two different teenagers. “I mean, you guys know about the Dry act and benefits right?”  
  
“Yeah, it’s the law that provides couples with higher benefits if they do not have children. It was passed years ago to avoid overpopulation,” Ignis said and turned the article over so he could read it. “If the couples do pick to have children though, if they limit it to one then education and economical help can be provided.”  
  
“Yeah, well, it sounds like a lot of people likes to fuck this up,” Prompto said and zoomed in on some of the articles. “Some couples that get married end up accidentally having children but they don’t wanna lose their benefits or they wanna avoid dealing with anything government related. So what they do is that they have the kid illegally, like, no doctors, no nurses, they just pop the kid out and so the kids are never registered.”  
  
“Right, and they can’t kill the kid either after is born or they’ll get jailed,” Gladio said.  
  
“Right, well, some other couples DO want to have kids but they don’t wanna lose their benefits either. So it’s the same deal, but with couples raising their kids illegally until they can’t keep up with the lie. I mean, the kid can’t go anywhere without a tag so they are holed up in their homes and eventually they wanna go out, you know?” Prompto shrugged and pointed towards Noctis.  
  
Ignis nodded and ran one of his hands through his hair. What Prompto was saying made sense, it fit everything pretty well. If Noctis was an illegal child like this then all they had to do was report it to the police and then they could help Noctis get his life together and even help him find his place in Insomnia. Still, something just wasn’t quite right.  
  
“This doesn’t add up though,” Gladio added and Ignis wanted to agree.  
  
“Yeah, I know,” Prompto said and sighed. “Like, all of these children weren’t found the way you guys found him. They were well aware of who they were, and were obviously kept in good conditions and behaved like normal people, well minus the whole trauma of being locked up through their whole lives.”  
  
Prompto moved the files around and then brought up another article, this one was different though, the title human trafficking was written on the title. “This is the other option I found more like you guy’s case. So, taking away all the crap about the Dry act, some people like legit do this just to sell the kids off. They have children and sell them to people that are loaded. I know it sounds impossible because like, that shit sounds like something from history books but it still happens. It’s very rare cases though, the last case happened over twenty years ago.”  
  
Prompto flipped through the pictures and then flipped them over to show Gladio and Ignis. The children this time looked nothing like the others, they were unkept and looked hurt, some of them even looked malnourished and like they hadn’t seen the sunlight in years.  
  
“I mean, the cases are kinda old, but it also somewhat fits?” Prompto shrugged and looked over at Noctis.  
  
Noctis was back to reading his tablet, not paying attention to anything they were saying. He was done eating his food and was now lazily leaning over Ignis with his face resting on his arm as he kept the tablet close to his face.  
  
Ignis looked down at Noctis. It was true that Noctis behavior was far from normal, and the way he found him was unsettling but he hadn’t seen any bruises on him or signs of abuse. If anything he just looked dirty, as if he had been crawling through one of the parks after a storm. He was scared and lost but didn’t flinch or backed away from Ignis when he reached out to him. If anything Noctis always ended up sitting next to him. Whatever Ignis was looking through some paperwork or just watching the news, Noctis always ended up next to him.  
  
Gladio wasn’t completely wrong about how he behaved somewhat like a cat.  
  
“Mhm, sounds like the only shot we got,” Gladio crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes still on the table as he looked over the information Prompto was given them.  
  
“Yeah, like, these cases are rare. No one wants to fuck around with the law or deal with government officials. Plus, like, we are taught to do better. We don’t wanna make things harder for other people,” Prompto nodded and tapped the table. The articles disappeared from view before the table went back to normal.  
  
“Yeah, that’s a given,” Gladio nodded slowly and looked over at Noctis. What the hell had they gotten themselves into?  
  


* * *

  
  
Ignis turned off the TV and picked up a similar tablet like the one Noctis was holding except it was slimmer and looked brand new. He tapped on the screen and then his bracelet. Prompto ended up sending him all the articles and files he was able to find about these cases. He wanted to read over them and see if he could find something that maybe they missed.  
  
Prompto and Gladio left a couple of hours after their talk. The topic ended up switching to their upcoming events and how they had to be ready. Lucis ended up requesting their help during one of their events. It wasn’t something big,  just a showcase of their new elixirs and potions. It was rare for them to get a job from Lucis so Ignis accepted without question. They were a very large company and having them on their side always meant more business. They usually had their own security team but apparently, something came up that had their whole security staff busy with something else. It was a good chance for their own security team to slide in and earn them some points.  
  
Ignis looked away from his tablet when an extra weight ended up settling next to him. Noctis was laying down on the couch with his head close to Ignis’ legs. He was still looking over his tablet. Ignis chuckled and then lazily moved his hands through Noctis’ hair. He pet the long strands and turned his attention back to his own tablet.  
  
“A rabbit,” Noctis broke the silence after a few minutes. He kept reading over the words on his tablet, his eyes staring at the girl that was chasing the rabbit.  
  
“A rabbit?” Ignis asked and looked over to see what Noctis was looking at.  
  
“Yes, I remember following one. Or not...I was following something,” Noctis said quietly and frowned. “But it was black, a black rabbit, maybe?” He looked up at Ignis with a frown. It was obvious he was trying to remember something but he couldn’t. Everything was too blurry but he could remember the smell of rain and someone walking in front of him, someone dressed in black.    
  
Ignis nodded but said nothing. He let his fingers run through Noctis’ hair one more time before tilting his head back against the couch. He stared at the ceiling for a few minutes and then closed his eyes.  
  
A black rabbit, uh?  
  
Ignis had no idea what Noctis was talking about. 

 

...

**Author's Note:**

> what the fuck Ignis, who brings a stranger to their home? he's a bit too nice.


End file.
